The estranged Kinijit chairman, Ato Hailu Shawel, has told the Washington Post reporter Nora Boustany that he was in Washington DC on Oct. 2 to and met with Congressman Chris Smith one day before the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2003.
Read the following email exchanges with Ms. Nora Boustany of the Washington Post:
from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle [email protected]
date Oct 9, 2007 11:01 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003
Mr. Kifle, we corrected his title, but not the fact that he was up in the gallery watching the vote. Thanks for your interest. Best Regards. Nora
Nora Boustany
Foreign Staff Writer
Human Rights, Development, Trends
Tel: 202 334 7474
Fax: 202 334 5651
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from Elias Kifle [email protected]
to Nora Boustany [email protected]
cc [email protected]
date Oct 9, 2007 11:26 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003
How could a sick man sitting on a hospital bed in Minneapolis at the same time be in Congress up in the gallery watching the vote? Why don’t you call Mr Shawel himself and hear it from his own mouth? Why are you sticking to a false story?
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from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle
date Oct 10, 2007 1:05 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003
Dear Mr. Kifle, if Mr. Shawel was able to meet with Congressman Smith, was he too ill to go to the gallery? Why is this such an issue? What has become very clear now is that there is a big problem between Mr. Mekonnen and a another group of Ethiopian Americans and that you do not work together, for reasons I am sure are very legitimate. It would have been great if all of you had been eager to inform me of your progress as the vote was shaping up, rather than of your differences after the vote. If there will be such a fuss everytime we write about Ethiopia, we can easily focus on other problems in the world. Please move on and let me focus on my work. Thank you for your interest. Nora
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from Elias Kifle [email protected]
to Nora Boustany [email protected]
date Oct 10, 2007 3:53 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003
I am moving on. Thanks.
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from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle [email protected]
cc [email protected]
date Oct 10, 2007 11:50 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003
Mr. Kifle, just to put your mind at rest, I will share the following with you. I called Mr. Hailyu Shawel’s wife in their hotel in Rochester, Minnesota and finally reached them after many attempts since your campaign began last week. She told me they were both in Washington last week for a couple of days and that her husband had made visits to the hill in a wheelchair. Mr. Shawel himself confirmed that he had met with Representative Chris Smith, as did Patrick Creamer on Smith’s staff, early last week. Mr. Shawel said though he wanted to attend the vote, he left a couple of hours before to make a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. Of Mefsin Mekonnen, he said: “He is our man,” confirming that his group was not defunct. Thank you for your interest. best regards.
Nora Boustany
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from Elias Kifle [email protected]
to Nora Boustany [email protected]
date Oct 11, 2007 1:14 AM
subject Re: article on HR 2003
Dear Nora,
Ms. Shawel is lying to you — I am sorry to say — to cover up for Mesfin Mekonnen who is in hot waters now because of this incident and another misinformation he may have provided to The Hill newspaper a few weeks ago. Mr Shawel met with Congressman Smith on Sept. 20 (see this report). The next day (on Friday) he went to Minneapolis for medical treatment. He was scheduled to return to DC on Sept. 29 to attend a public meeting. The doctors would not allow him to do so. The meeting was rescheduled for Oct. 6. Again, the doctors refused to let him travel to DC for the Oct. 6 meeting. The meeting is rescheduled again for Sunday, Oct. 14. Any time Hailu Shawel is in town for personal visit — let alone for an official meeting with a congressman — every body knows about it. Meeting with a congressman would have been a big news, particularly in an occasion like that. So Nora, I am happy that you have tried to get in touch with Hailu Shawel, and at least you got some response from his wife. But I think Mr Shawel and friends — now even family members — are compounding the problem by lying to a major media like the WP to cover up for their friend. As American journalists say, in politics it is not the mistake or the crime itself that get you in trouble, it is the cover up (I am rephrasing it). In this case what angered a lot of people is not that Mr Shawel did not come (because every one knows that he is getting medical treatment), or that Mesfin Mekonnen misinformed you, but what he and his friend did to cover up their mistake — i.e, attacking me and other individuals in the media as liars. More importantly, misinforming the Western media by a member of our community could be too costly to us. We are afraid that we would lose the little media coverage our cause is getting if those who are assigned to speak on our behalf engage in blatant lies. I accept your suggestion and I am moving on. But if you really want to get to the bottom of this matter, there are two ways: 1) insist on speaking with Hailu Shawel himself on the record (ask him if he was in Washington DC on Tuesday, Oct. 3); and/or 2) speak with Congressman Smith’s office on the record (which I did — I asked his staff if Mr Smith met with Mr Shawel any time on Tuesday, Oct. 3. They said NO). I am 100 per cent certain that you will find out the truth.
Regards,
Elias
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from Nora Boustany [email protected]
to Elias Kifle
date Oct 11, 2007 1:50 PM
subject Re: article on HR 2003
Mr. Kifle, I did speak to him in person by telephone after having reached his wife. I talked to them separately. He met with Smith on October 2 and left the next morning, a couple of hours before the vote on October 3. This is exactly what he said. So thank you again for your interest. Nora
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Ato Hailu Shawel, you have disgraced yourself once again, this time by telling an egregious lie to a major U.S. newspaper. Why?